


Reliable Experimental Rabbit Model

by Highsmith (quimtessence)



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: 1983, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe Exchange 2019, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Canon Lesbian Character, Gen, Queer Themes, Robin Finds Out About the Gate in Season One, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-10-03 22:24:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20460473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quimtessence/pseuds/Highsmith
Summary: Barb invites Robin along for a night no one will ever forget.





	Reliable Experimental Rabbit Model

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fencesit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fencesit/gifts).

> September 21st 2019 ETA: [My tumblr](https://rhubarbdreams.tumblr.com/), though I can't guarantee I'll ever learn how to use it. :/

The week after Halloween, she gets ambushed on her way to homeroom after a predictably mediocre cafeteria lunch. Typical.

"I need a favour," Barbara says all in a rush, as if she had to run the length of the school hallway to catch up.

Robin likes Barbara well enough. They've got enough in common to be casually friendly, because obviously they do. Some things are just painfully obvious all on their own.

So she hears her out. It's not what Robin expected, and her expectations, as a rule, are generally pretty damn low.

"Wait," she says, dragging out the vowels just a little bit, looking Barbara up and down. "So is she cool now? Hanging out with the cool kids has that unfortunate side effect, or so I've heard." She gives her her best sceptical look, the one she's perfected in her bedroom mirror at home. The one which now comes off effortlessly.

Barb cocks her head. "Nancy's always been cool. People are just seeing it now or whatever," she finishes, eyes tracking the people walking around them in the halls.

"Uh huh." Painfully obvious. "That Steve Harrington, right?"

Barb blinks slowly, but not like she has to think about it. "Uh, yeah," she finally says.

"What a catch."

"Sure." Then, "I mean, Steve can be a bit of a dick."

"Yeah, no shit." Also, kind of a dumbass, like a frosted pudding who charms girls out of their skirts or something. His hair defies gravity. Robin is a little impressed, in a weird sort of way and entirely despite herself.

It's kind of painfully obvious, more so up close like this, that Barb is more than a little gone for Nancy. She knows Nancy as a bit of a goody-goody, but smart, not just books but clever. Robin isn't her biggest fan, but she gets it, OK. Like, how could she not get it?

"You should come with us."

"What?"

"I'm inviting you?" Unusure. This is trouble.

"Are you? Like, _are you_?"

"_Please_ come with us." Begging. So much trouble.

"Pass. Totally pass. And now I'm vaguely horrified."

Robin goes to grab her books for her next class, but Barb's face stops her. She lingers with her hand about to shut her locker door, seconds ticking by.

"You need to come along. I won't have anyone to hang out with. It'll be awful."

As much as Robin would want to point out that Nancy will be there, she knows that's not really the point.

"Um, you do realise. I mean. You do know that they'll think—" They're still in the hall, people walking to their classes all around them. The words would be hard to say anyway, because they're the hardest words anyone has ever said. She trusts Barb gets it.

"I know! But it'll be worse otherwise. With or without you, this isn't really, um."

"Gee, thanks." Sigh. "You do know this is the worst idea ever, in the history of the universe, _ever_, right?"

There's little doubt in Robin's mind this will be a shitshow, but at least it won't be another boring Tuesday night.

*

She gropes for a word to describe the face Nancy makes when Robin shows up at her house, Barb in tow. Confused seems inadequate somehow.

"Um," Wheeler mutters by way of a greeting, brow furrowed and clearly doing her best to not seem rude in the face of an awkwardly smiling Robin casually standing on her doorstep, Barb nervously fidgeting behind her.

"It's Robin," she grins.

"I asked her to come," Barb pipes in, clearly flustered. She steps up to the front door, now shoulder to shoulder with Robin, though no less nervous.

Wheeler's eyes are close to bugging out of her head, despite her best efforts at seeming composed. "You invited her?" Oddly enough, she doesn't sound rude, or anything like that, simply surprised at the wrong time maybe, the one night where she wasn't fishing for surprises, much less in the form of Robin.

"Yes?" Barb squeaks.

Wheeler blinks confusedly a couple of times during which Robin can't help but raise her eyebrows in expectation. "But... it's Steve's place. Like, we can't just invite people over." Now that's a bold-faced lie.

"I know it's Steve's place. It's just—"

"Say _you_ invited me," Robin chimes in. "I mean, he's not going to mind, I'm sure, and you, like, invited Barb along, too. Right? Say you invited your good friend Robin."

"Sure, but—" Wheeler starts, a little more stilted than she usually lets herself be.

"He wouldn't mind, would he?" she asks, head cocked, shoulders loose, as if she's genuinely wondering.

It's not that Robin is daring Wheeler to say something nasty, to refuse outright and have to justify herself, but either way it would be fun. An unexpected turn of events. Far less boring than what she had planned for tonight before Barb came along. She's heard about the Harrington pool, heated and large, and Steve's stellar hosting, mostly consisting of free beer and a joint if his folks have been away for long enough. Robin's down with whatever, and she can simply get the hell out of Dodge if it gets furry, with or without a car, though she'd like to believe Barb and Wheeler would be smart enough to evacuate the premises if something funky went down.

"I guess it's... fine," Wheeler finally says.

Hardly the best invitation she's ever gotten, but good fucking enough for government work.

"Super-duper. Let's get rolling then, yeah?" Robin doesn't wait for a response, simply turning around and walking off towards Barb's car parked just down the street.

From inside the Wheeler household, someone yells a sleepy goodbye as the front door slams closed.

*

It's awkward from the moment they all get into the car and Barb starts driving them across town. They talk about the chilly mornings they've been having, which, as far as Robin is concerned, makes it all the more awkward. 

Once the front door swings open, Robin uses the best I Wouldn't Hurt a Fly expression in her arsenal; not as fine-tuned as her others, but decent enough to fool the unsuspecting and keep the bullshit-initiated guessing.

Harrington is just as fluffy-haired as she expected, and Timmy and Chrissy (Jonny and Cindy? Whatever.) seem like exactly the sort of assholes she expected them to be even from a distance.

Yeah, great party.

*

It goes as well as can be expected, which is to say they don't try to actively kill her, so that's one in the plus column.

Tommy H (for the life of her she cannot recall what the H stands for, even though he gets around to introducing himself) and his girlfriend (whose name might be Clara after all, or something equally generic Robin's spacing out on) don't directly engage at all after the first few minutes. They give her the same sort of looks they give Barb, only they disguise it better with her than with Robin. Presumably they've interacted with Nancy before and know being actively mean to her best friend might put a damper on Stevie getting some tonight.

But the beer is cool and the pool is heated, and, most importantly, Robin's expectations are still low enough to hit the bottom of the ocean.

*

It happens later.

Once she's alone with Barb, Nancy and Steve already up the stairs, Tommy H and Carol (it only takes the better part of two hours for Robin to remember her name, just in time to say goodbye) already having made their exit, that she notices the trees, the water, _everything_.

It could be her eyes. It definitely could be her eyes. But.

Robin isn't one to take most things at face value. She's not one for discounting everything either, but what's on the surface rarely _is_ the full picture, though it can certainly be a part of it. She's pretty sure what she's seeing isn't the full picture either, but it's. Something. Something she definitely needs to be paying attention to.

"Barb?" she says. There's definitely panic in this one word.

Only there's no Barb sitting next to her by the pool's edge, just a rushing sound of water, and Robin's panicking, she's fully aware she is, and there's nothing to do about it other than run inside, run to the others, run for help.

*

The details don't really matter when the outcome is all the same.


End file.
